Galbatorix's Daughter
by Taco Kickline
Summary: This is based on the book, because lets face it, the movie sucked. Rated t for violence later in the story.
1. Internal Affairs

_Disclaimer: I don't own Eragon, but I do own Kaida and Luthien. They aren't copyrighted though. Lol_

A shadow cast its self across the face of a beautiful human face. She strained painfully as her body jerked and she cried out. She spasmed violently, tremors coursing through her body. She was located in a poorly lit tower, a woman hunched over beside her, face wrinkled with age. The elderly woman held the beautiful woman's hand as she clenched her hand until her knuckles grew white. The beautiful woman's long blonde hair cascaded in front of her face, beads of sweat gleamed down her face and her beautiful, silver eyes gleamed un-naturally in the light. The old woman dabbed her forehead with a cold cloth, and with another spasm, the silver eyed beauty was free of her weight. She relaxed and the old woman shuffled away, a baby cried loudly, and the old woman carried the baby to the silver eyed mother. The mother held the baby, looking upon the young girl in horror. The baby snuggled into her mother, her blonde hair gleamed in the low light of the darkened tower.

The mother shivered, exhausted, she looked down upon the child and whispered. "Atra ono waise skoliro fra du konungr, onr wyrda er audr eom ono." She sighed. "Se ono waise edoc'sil medh roeda." She paused, looking at the baby. "Kaida." She said quickly, naming the child.

She stiffened as a large shouldered figure loomed in the doorway. It was a broad-shouldered man with strong features. He was tall, regal looking, but not overly tall, and at his side was a deep, royal purple blade which gleamed brightly as if it was alive. He had a small goatee at his chin, wrapping around his mouth and ending in a finely-groomed point. He had pale skin, of alabaster, and not an ounce of fat was on his form. He had deep black hair, drawn back in a tie, his eyes were as black as midnight. "Luthien." He said coolly and blankly, his voice had a subtle quality of a snake's. "Let me see the child you have brought me."

The woman held out the beautiful young girl and the baby's eyes opened as the man held her disdainfully. Two orbs of black, exactly the same color as the father's eyes gleamed out freely, and almost creepily. "Her name is Kaida." Luthien said fiercely.

"Kaida." The man said, he shook his head and sighed. "Such a shame, if only she had been male. Hmph, we can always try again."

Luthien glared at him and her body shook, her face paled and her breathing grew labored. "No." she said, drawing within herself and her voice echoed with power. "NO!" Her body moved and shaded, and in a strange event, her skin grew grey, strong like granite, but much stronger. She stood up, and a defiant glare gleamed in her eyes, and she became solid rock, frozen in a perfect design of what she had been, a rush of energy glinted and she was gone. The light faded from her eyes.

"Interesting." The man stared with interest in his black eyes now. "How is it possible that she did such a feat?" he touched the stone woman. "Shame, now I wont have a proper heir to the throne." He did not seem sorry at all for this loss. "Huh, well, as soon as she is old enough she will learn how to fight. Take her away, and keep her away from Shuriken." He handed her to a woman who had stood beside his stone lover, and she cuddled the baby, watching as the tall king left them all alone.


	2. Broken warmpth

It had been years since that accident. Kaida lived with these strange creatures called Urgals, Ra'zac and humans known as Shades. Kaida was turning four years old, tomorrow. She was completely loyal to her father, even though she hadn't met him. Her hair had grown out to be around shoulder length, and she wore a very ugly brown colored shirt and black pants. She looked dirty, but she was playing with Urgal children. They were soft and they had not grown twisted horns yet, but in time they would. She had watched four litters of Urgal children grow up. They seemed to grow so fast, and she so slow, and for the hundredth time she wondered why she hadn't grown any horns yet.

"Rivstaka." She said in her kind adopted Urgal Mother's tongue. "Why am I so ugly? Why haven't I grown horns like the others."

"eh." Rivstaka said. "You will not grow horns because you are not a horn growing Urgal like us, you my dear are something special. See how your ears form a point, you are half human, half elf."

"Don't poison her mind with such selfish stories, the king wishes to see her, now." A gruff voice of a Raz'zac echoed. It was Kuasta, a strong male Ra'zac, one of her father's best warriors. The Raz'zac gripped her arm roughly and drug her away. She was used to this rough treatment, having been raised by Urgals and Raz'zac, it was all she had learned. The best answer to the pain was to bear with it and the tormentor would eventually stop.

The Raz'zac drug her around, shoving her roughly up flights of steps and then into a large chamber, where a singular, very fancy chair sat in front of them, carved out of black marble. Sitting on the chair was a handsome man, he had long dark hair and black eyes, the same color as Kaida's own. And Kaida bowed low. "My king." She spoke in very poor English, seeing as her native tongue was Urgal. "I live to serve you."

The king stood and approached her, then lifted her by her chin, staring at her, and in a violent smack, he backhanded her across the face, hard. "You live to serve no one you little shit." He snarled. "You're my daughter and a princess, it's high time you started acting like one."

Kaida froze "WH-what are you talking about m-my lord."

He smacked her again. "You will refer to me as Father." He snarled

Kaida bowed her head. "Y-yes my l-father." She stammered

"Don't stammer." He snarled. "Durza, get in here, now."

A tall man with blood red hair entered the room, he had an aura of evil surrounding him. "Yes my lord."

"I need her ready in two years, she needs to be dignified, classy, and regal, she needs to hold herself high like a princess should, be able to sing, dance, and all that stuff a noble needs to know, and be able to perform magic, and fight with a blade, but don't turn her into a shade." Then he stalked away, leaving her to stare up at Durza with terrified wide eyes.

Durza glared at her. "Useless." He said in a growl. "Come on flesh bag, lets go."

Kaida tottered after him in the awkward way she had learned, she waddled, a lot like a penguin.

Kaida winced, this was one of her father's worse days, a small force of about ten rugged human fighters had beaten fifty or so of his urgals. He swore and cursed, and a chair went flying across the floor. Kaida watched him, standing poised in a very fancy and beautiful dress, she held herself tall, and her face held no emotion. "Get over here." He scowled at Kaida. Kaida nervously approached him, and then stood by his side, she saw his black dragon snaking by out of the corner of her eye, and glanced over, marveling at its beautiful scales. Her father stepped towards her, and punched her as hard as he could in the face. "Look at me when I talk to you." His breath smelled heavily of ale. Kaida lay on the ground, in intense pain. "Stand up!" he ordered, kicking her hard in the side.

Kaida stood, pain coursing though her body. _Pain is only temporary, it is only temporary, you can push through this._ She told herself.

Her father drew a massive purple tinged sword; it was set with the glyph, Restwn, which in the ancient language meant vengeance. Her father approached her and slashed, and Kaida winced, and soon she was covered in nasty cuts, and lying on the ground, her father then proceeded to kicking her violently while she was down, she tried to stand, but each time, he would simply kick her back down. So she lay, in a puddle of her own blood. She tried to cry out, but no sound would come, and her father left and returned with a whip, opening up her flawless back side, whipping it until she blacked out. The next thing she knew she smelled a horrible stench, some kind of weird salt.

"I'm not finished with you, you little shit." He pulled her head up by her hair, then smashed her face into the ground, and walked away from her. Kaida tried to get up, but the pain was too intense, her gown was torn and bloodied, and she was sure that she wasn't supposed to be seeing so much blood. And her vision was narrower than usual, as if she was going through a tunnel, and it was sort of blurry as well. She thought the beating was possible over, but when she managed to sit up, a feeling like painful fire seared down her arm, and she saw a red hot poker, with the brand people who were Galbatorix's soldiers used to mark themselves as part of his army forever. It was a sort of a jagged half circle symbol with several dots along the bottom curve.

Kaida fell to the ground again and Galbatorix called a servant in. "Get her the hell out of here, and out of my sight." He snarled angrily.

The servant lifted the little girl in his arms and carried her gently away, and Kaida faded in and out of consciousness. "He did a number on you, poor soul." The servant said after a long moment of silence.

"It is nothing more than I diserve. Pain is only temporary. One must learn to fight through it." Kaida said in a rasping painful manor.

The servant holding her felt sorrow beyond anything, here she was, a four year old girl, speaking as if she was the wisest person in the world. This poor girl had no childhood. Raised by the barbaric Urgals, then taken from them and forced into a life of a noble, where she was treated like a slave, or some form of poor livestock. He carried her to the infirmary and then spoke again as the healer set to work on her many wounds. "My name is Melrae." He noticed her dark, deep black eyes and shuddered, but then shook his head to clear it. "You're his daughter, aren't you."

"Why wasn't I born a boy." Kaida said weakly. "I am useless to him, because I wasn't born a boy."

"Nonsense." Melrae said, and Kaida got her first good look at him. He was built the opposite of her father, he was muscular and wide, and at least a whole head shorter than her father. But he had a gentle, caring look in his soft, light blue eyes. "You can be strong as a girl." He looked over to the healer, who was a young woman in white robes. "Do me a favor, Celestria, and try to teach her some healing magic, wont you?"

The woman nodded, and a small whisp of her light brown hair fell out from her hooded robe. "As soon as I'm finished healing her and she gets a good rest."

"Rest is not going to be possible." Melrae warned.

"Right." Celestria winced. Then she thought. "Okay, take a little nap until I finish healing you." She put her arm around the little girl, and muttered a strange word in

Kaida felt herself fade into a comfortable and instant sleep.

"Poor kid." Melrae sighed.

"You know, If Galbatorix found out that we are being nice to her, he will kill us." Celestria warned.

"Yeah, but someone has to do something, or she will end up a worse monster than he is." Melrae sighed.

Celestria nodded solemly, and then kissed Melrae on the cheek. "You are very brave."

Melrae flushed slightly, smiling. "As are you." Then he slid his arm around her. "Thank you for doing this, maybe, just maybe we can prevent her from going bad like her father."

Celestria nodded, and then she stopped short. "That's about all I can do for her, there are so many wounds, and I at least healed her bruised ribs, and some of the cuts on her back." She wavered weakly. "I guess I need to wake her." She paused briefly, and muttered a spell.

Kaida opened her eyes, wincing away from these two.

"No, honey, don't worry." Celestria cooed. "We wont harm you, here, I'm going to teach you to heal, so you can help yourself the next time you get hurt.

Kaida blinked. "How do I know you aren't going to kill me, or hurt me?" she asked coldly.

"If we wanted to kill you we would have done it while you slept." Melrae said calmly.

It was hard to argue with that, so Kaida dipped her head and listened to Celestria's sing song words, filled with power and the aincient language. She copied Celestria's song, beautifully echoing the healing power, and she felt her pain receding. For the first day in her life she felt a faint echo of trust.

But all good things must come to an end...

And tomorrow would be that end.


	3. Dragon's Song

Kaida woke up, feeling groggy and tired, but her wounds were much less painful, and she felt better. So Celestria hadn't lied to her, she felt almost like new. Kaida fingered the now swollen burn mark on her shoulder. She stood up from her resting place, only to discover Melrae and Celestria were nowhere to be found. She lowered herself from the bed, and walked out of the room, to find herself in an area of the castle which was off limits to her. Her father had beaten the lesson into her several times. But still the curiosity lingered.

And now, she could hear a strange noise, a sort of singing. There were three different pitches, one sounded far off, but three of them sounded close together. She headed towards the singing, and discovered a small room, in the center there were three large oval stones which were rather large, and she could hold one if she picked it up with two hands. They sat high up on pedestals. One was a beautiful Sapphire, another was a handsome Ruby, and the last was a soft and gentle Emerald color. The three stones sang at her in a beautiful harmony. Kaida lifted the Sapphire stone in her hands, and she could feel life inside of the strange stone. And in a jolt, she realized. This was an egg! But for what? The singing became louder as she turned her head to see a very realistic looking statue. She placed the blue egg down and stared at the strange statue. It was a beautiful young woman, her arms were up as if she had once been holding something, but her arms were empty. Her face was set into a mask of pure hatred and defiance.

For some reason, this statue filled Kaida with fear. She fled without looking where she was going, and when she stopped, she could smell the faint scent of blood and smoke. Taking a step towards the smell she heard a deep rumbling noise, and to her surprise, a huge black dragon stuck its face out of the doorway, Shuriken. Her father's dragon. This was where he lived. Shuriken surveyed her with an aloof expression, as if eyeing an insignificant bug, but then his eyes changed, and he bowed his head towards her, opening his mouth to reveal a set of teeth which were as large as she was tall, thick and sharp enough to cut her in half with ease. The dragon breathed a strange black energy out at her, it engulfed her, twisting around her, and turning colors, and then a strange other side of her gripped the magic, and took it with excitement. The dragon then stared at her again as if nothing had happened, and backed away into his doorway. Kaida fled from the dragon, feeling very odd and strange. What was going on?

Again she didn't look where she was going and smashed head first into her father. He had an angry look on his stoic face, his black eyes were dark voids of hatred.

"What are you doing over here, you know this side of the Castle is forbidden."

"Yes, father, I am sorry father." Kaida bowed, and then blurted. "But I heard a strange singing coming from that room over there." She pointed to the room with the eggs. "Don't you hear that?" The singing was still in her mind, gentle and soothing.

"No." Galbatorix snarled harshly, then he stared down at Kaida, thought filled his cold calculating eyes. "What exactly are you hearing?"

Kaida shook, hoping he would forget about beating her and then she sang, the exact song as she was hearing it.

"_Let fire burn and passion rise_

_As we fly through the darkened skies_

_We are warriors of forever._

_Since the dawn of time we have been here_

_Never forgotten, and stirring up fear_

_Believe not the stories they tell._

_With our silver tongues we never lie_

_We are noble, and yet we die_

_No one loves a dragon._

_Flash of fangs and unfurled wings_

_Fighting for the most important things_

_Every day is a curse for a dragon._

_We slowly die and fade away_

_Turned to dust, a legend they say_

_All that remains are empty caves._

_Broken scale lies with broken path_

_Smell the blood of the aftermath_

_We are alive inside, we remain._

_Flaming breath against brightsteel_

_We kill what is necessary for our meal_

_Why wont you leave us be?_

_Aching, praying we will be free_

_Look to the skies and we know you will see_

_Our rainbow colored scales._

_Save us from our prisons please_

_Be quick now, and don't you tease_

_So we may be free forever more._

_Flame of power flame of might_

_Help us to escape at night_

_Hiding forever in the land of Dragons._

_Look closely at your heart-of-hearts_

_You will see it in the deepest parts_

_The place where Dragons roam free."_

Kaida stopped, the song repeated from there, a low hum in the back of her head.

Galbatorix stared down at her, a flicker of terror ran through his eyes at the last two verses, but he hid it well behind a mask of hatred. "And you say this is coming from that room?" he asked, pointing.

Kaida nodded, and to her shock, he roughly grabbed her arm and threw her into the room. "Touch them." He ordered. "Touch the eggs."

Kaida felt a strange sence of foreboding, and reached out to touch the blue egg again, in her mind, a slightly feminine voice whispered. _I am not yours._ She moved on to the next egg, the blood red one, and a masculine voice whispered _I am not yours._ The last egg, as green as emeralds whispered in a similar masculine voice _I am not yours._

"uh." Kaida said, recoiling a bit. "They told me... I am not yours."

Galbatorix swung his hand up and smacked her across the face. "Useless little shit." He snarled, and then grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her away from the singing eggs, and took her to his throne room, where Kaida recognized instantly Celestria and Melrae. They kneeled with their heads bowed, both trembling.

"Now, you two are responsible for this." Galbatorix said angrily.

The two said nothing, but only trembled.

Galbatorix quickly vanished out of the room for a moment and returned with a beautiful black sword. The sword's blade was curved, its edges gleamed wickedly in the light, and it had a black gem set in the pommel, the handle was a softer grey color, and had a small hand guard for whoever was holding the sword. He threw the sword violently at Kaida, who barely dodged, and saw a bunch of silver symbols traced in the side, from her lessons with Durza, she easily recognized the symbols were part of the language of the Elves. It read 'Sirrush,' which to her knowledge meant symbol of chaos. "Pick that up." Galbatorix ordered.

Kaida pryed the sword from the boards in front of her, it was heavy for a girl as young as she was, but she was determined to show no weakness.

"Now, kill these two traitors." Galbatorix ordered, pointing to Melrae and Celestria.

Kaida's eyes widened. "n-no!" she stuttered, the sword slipped from her grasp and clattered to the ground.

"They are traitors, Kaida. Kill them." Galbatorix said again.

"n-no." Kaida said. "I don't believe you."

"Oh, then believe this." Galbatorix pulled out Restwn, its purple color seemed to gleam almost angrily. "I caught them trying to poison you. DURZA." Galbatorix called, and the tall shade entered the room, he bent over the couple and fished around in Melrae's pockets, only to pull out a torn and stained note. "Give it to her." Galbatorix ordered.

Durza shoved the note roughly into Kaida's hands, and Kaida unfolded the note.

It read:

_We have succeeded in winning over the princess of shadows. It wont be long before we can have her trust us enough so we can strike and topple this damn kingdom once and for all._

_-Melrae_

Kaida stared at the loopy handwriting for a good minute before it sunk in. These two had only pretended to like her, only pretended so they could chew her up and spit her out like used gum. "I... how... how could you?" her voice sounded broken. She thought she had found new friends, and now... they had been nothing but betrayers, and still... "I... I cant kill them." She said, shivering.

"Why not? They betrayed you." Galbatorix said, and when Kaida would not answer, his dark eyes shaded. "Then you are a useless and weak little shit who has no use to me." He walked over to Melrae and Celestria, and with a violent swing, he decapitated both of them, spraying blood everywhere.

Kaida was stunned as she watched the blood leak from the bodies, and it took a second for the bodies to slump over, void of their heads, staining the white marble floor. The sight of blood which was not her own made her stomach heave, and before she knew it, she had thrown up.

"Sickening." Galbatorix walked over to Kaida and smacked her across the face, forcing her to stand. "You are a useless little pussy." He gripped her by the back of her shirt and threw her, violently away from the puddle of red fluids. Then he was upon her again, and picked her up once more. "Durza. You are to teach her magic, all of the magic you know. And teach her well, there's no way in hell that servant managed to heal this many wounds on her own. But that will be later, today I need you to return her to me, cleaned up. We have an appearance to make to the Foresworn."

Durza roughly grabbed Kaida. "Yes sire." He sneered, and placed her down on the ground. "Walk, you insignificant human." When he kicked at her, Kaida barely managed to dodge, and fled from him, crying silently as she did. Her mind was a chaotic mess, after seeing two live people slaughtered like chickens in front of her, she didn't know where to turn. When she reached her room at the other end of the castle, she slammed the door in Durza's face and quickly started to clean herself. She wiped the specks of blood from her face, and pulled on a very cumbersome and beautiful dress, colored in a regal, royal blue, with a lighter blue hem. She pulled her hair up, pinning it to the side, and lacing several pearls through it. She did not want to disappoint her father again. And lastly, she brushed light makeup on her face to cover the bruises, and made sure her scabby arms were covered by the long sleeves of beautiful silken gloves. Her heart beat swiftly in her chest, and the egg's song from before echoed in her mind.

"_Save us from our prisons please_

_Be quick now, don't you tease_

_So we may be free forever more."_

She sang softly, and the words rang deep in her heart, and she felt it beat, calming her significantly. She stood from her chair, slipping on shoes, and grabbing a small light blue fan, she exited her room, only to see Durza waiting, impatiently.

The maroon-haired man grunted. "It's about time." He said. "Follow me." Durza lead her down a long hallway to a part of the castle she knew well, and to a large audience chamber.

"Gentlemen." A voice she recognized as her father's rang out. "I'd like to introduce something vital to my plan. My daughter, Kaida."

Kaida held her breath a little and entered the room.


	4. The Meeting of the Foresworn

**Disclaimer: again i dont own Eragon. I didnt say this in the last chapter and im too lazy to edit it ^.^**

* * *

><p>Kaida looked around the room, and her eyes settled on the various people who gathered around the table. Her father, as usual was sitting by the head of the table, disdain in his eyes as she entered, he frowned.<p>

To his left sat a tall black haired man with broad shoulders. He had eerily piercing eyes, one was so brown it was almost black, and the other was an eerie and icy blue. He sat tall, his handsome face chiseled perfectly, wearing what looked like very expensive and shiny armor. On a second glance, Celestria noticed the tip of his left index finger was missing, and he had a blood red sword sitting in his lap, the glyph on it shimmered and Kaida could just barely make out what it said. Zar'roc.

Standing beside him was a beautiful woman with a solemn look on her face. She had light brown hair which cascaded down her back freely, and she wore a sort of black outfit, armour protecting her whole body with its faint sheen. Her eyes were a bright and loving grey, completely different from the cold eyes which surrounded the table.

Beside her, a young boy, roughly a year or so older than Kaida stood, staring at her with an awed expression. He had the same grey eyes as the woman beside him, and he had short dark brown hair.

Beside him was a rather disgruntled looking castle maid, she held the boy close to her, with a characteristic frown.

On the right side of Galbatorix, a woman sat with a haughty scowl on her face. She had a relatively lengthy body, and her hair was a deep black with a white streak down the side. She had cold amber eyes which seemed to burn through everything. She had her arms folded across her chest, and two bright yellow daggers with yellow stones in the pommels settled at either of her hips, each was marked with a small glyph. One read Hvitr, and the other read Adurna. White and Water. She wore a sort of easy to move in armor which nearly hid all of her feminity.

A rather squeamish looking man sat beside the haughty one, he had short cropped, mousy brown hair and beady silver eyes. He rung his hands together awkwardly, looking very nervous and unhappy. He sat with a little of a hunch. The man stared down at the table, trembling, a small jade colored battle axe hung at his side, a bright emerald set in the broad side of the axe. He nibbled his fingernails, glancing around with paranoia in his eyes.

Another woman sat next to this man, her hands folded in front of her lips, her eyes were an angry sort of green, and she had lengthy orangish-red hair. She seemed to be deep in thought, an odd light opaque crystalline-colored, and metal bow was on the table in front of her. It had a soft gem set in it as well, on her back was a quiver full of various types of arrows. She had the least armor on out of all of the people in the room, and seemed to be built a little more for stealth and speed.

Kaida looked again and saw various shades hanging around the table, their bloody crimson hair as un-natural as their own presence. One in particular sat, Durza, the Shade. He glared at Kaida as he sat with pure hatred and disdain, not even making an effort to curb his dislike.

And the last person at the table was another man, this one was staring blankly at Kaida, his eyes were so blue they were almost white, his hair was grey. He had a white robe covering her body, and a long and thick brown sword at his back, set in the sword was a brown gem. He seemed to be calculating her every move.

It was awkwardly silent for a long time, and finally Galbatorix spoke.

"These are some of the Forsworn, Kaida. Unfortunately not all of them could make it to this meeting." He scowled, "I said this meeting was of top priority, and they simply sit around and do nothing. He grew silent again, his eyes burning with anger. But then, he regained control of himself and spoke. "Now, I brought my daughter before us to show you all her skills, as she will be joining our ranks soon enough."

"Are you mad, Galbatorix?" The woman with a haughty scowl and deep black hair spoke, her yellow daggers glinted with a dazzling light. "A little girl like that could never be strong enough to join the ranks of the forsworn."

Galbatorix glared at her, and she instantly shrunk down, mumbling something with her eyes downcast. "If you speak out one more time, Kialandi, I swear I will end you where you stand." Galbatorix turned his glare to Kaida, and pointed. "Take a second look my warriors. What do you see?"

Kaida winced as she felt their eyes boring into her. Starting from her blonde hair, down to her rather graceful body, stopping at her feet. "She has pointed ears." The man with grey hair and whitish blue eyes stated, his voice just as cold as his eyes.

Now everyone's eyes were on Kaida's finely tapered ears, burning with questioning looks, they turned to Galbatorix.

Galbatorix had an evil-looking smirk on his handsome face. "Well done, Siyamak. You still have the best eyes of us all." Then he shook his head. "She is the daughter of myself, you didn't think I would allow a simple human to have something so vital to my plans?" he laughed, his laugh was deep, and creepy. It sent chills of fear and shock down the spines of all in the room. "Durza, I want you to retrieve Sirrush."

Durza stood, and nodded. "Certainly my king." He hurried out of the room, his blood-colored hair fell behind him as he stalked away.

Kaida suddenly felt an odd prescence in her mind, it wasn't hers, but it wasn't painful. It was a lot like a curious puppy, she allowed it into her mind, and she allowed it to sniff around where it pleased, only deflecting it slightly, and almost un-noticably as it came close to her memories.

"You've got to be kidding me." Kialandi muttered. "Galbatorix she-"

"That's KING Galbatorix to you." Galbatorix interrupted

"Certainly my lord." Kialandi bowed. "King Galbatorix, I don't see how such a small girl could be of any use to us. From what my scan of her tells me, she can't protect her mind from the most simple of attacks. She can't even use magic! How do you expect me to have faith in such a girl, who can't do anything?"

Galbatorix's eyes grew cold and dark, and as Durza returned with Sirrush, his glare burned into Kaida's soul, and she felt herself shrink back slightly.

"Durza." He said with an eerie calmness which made everyone wince. Galbatorix was furious. "Why did you not inform me that Kaida could not use magic?"

Durza's eyes narrowed as he tossed the blade to Kaida. "I had only just started teaching her to speak the ancient language. I am not a miracle worker you know." He snarled back with a very ferocious looking glare. "I assumed she could use magic, considering her mother was an elf."

The beautiful woman dressed in all black who had light brown hair spoke. "Durza, you should never assume anything." She said, her voice was soft and kind, reflecting her grey eyes.

"Quiet Selena." The man in shiny armor snarled.

"But Morzan…" Selena continued.

"QUIET." Morzan snarled, looming over her like a dangerous monster.

Selena shrank back, her eyes downcast.

The young boy at Selena's side shrank back as well, hugging his mother's leg with fear dancing in his young grey eyes.

The man who had mousy colored hair and beady silver eyes spoke next. "A..as m..much as…. As much as i… h…hate to admit it M..M..M..Morzan… S…S…Selena is.. uh… right." He squeaked, looking terrified as he did so, as if Morzan's wraith would rain down on him at any moment.

"I have to agree with Selena and Balor." Galbatorix stood, and Morzan quickly shut his mouth, glaring daggers at Balor and Selena. "Now, Kaida." He turned to her. "Let's see what Durza has taught you." He rang a small bell by the side of his desk, it rang out loudly, and soon a young Urgal stared her in the face. "I want you to attack her with all of your might, grunt." Galbatorix ordered.

Kaida lifted the heavy sword, her stomach churned as she thought of the last time she had seen the black demon. It had killed Melrae and Celestria. She swallowed her nausea and watched the Urgal, horror in her eyes. She would have to kill an Urgal. The same species of creature who had raised her, and told her of her half-blooded heritage. She reluctantly slid into her stance.

As a fighter, Kaida was both strong and quick. For her age, it was remarkable. She could fight on equal terms with the weakest swordsman in Galbatorix's army. It wasn't much, but considering all of the men in Galbatorix's army had been trained in swordsmanship from their birth, it was a large achievement. She parried a charge from the Urgal, her sword met his, and they clashed, steel against his wood and metal ice pick like weapon. They clashed with eachother, the much shorter and smaller Kaida doing her best to try and upset him. The Urgal managed to land a well-placed slash at her leg. Kaida cried out in pain, and slashed her blade against his stomach, seeing red. The Urgal fell over, wounded but not dead, it tried to get up, but ended up collapsing on the ground, unconscious.

"Kill him." Her father said with a snarl.

Kaida shook her head in refusal.

Galbatorix stood. "I said kill him. NOW." He ordered, his eyes burning with anger.

Kaida shook her head again.

The woman with lengthy orangish-red hair stood, her angry green eyes glinted as in a flash, her crystalline bow was drawn and she fired one arrow, perfectly crafted with a spiral-like tip, it would tear painfully through its subject. The arrow hit its target and the Urgal stiffened and lay still, blood flowing from the wound in his head and the wound on his chest. The woman shook her head in disappointment. "Weakling." She stated in a voice so powerful it shook the room.

Galbatorix glared at his daughter, anger heating his face. "You'll pay for your insolence later, Kaida." Then he turned to the woman with orangish-red hair. "You shouldn't have interfered, Formora."

Formora shrugged and sat down, her bow returned to her lap. "And she shouldn't have disobeyed your orders my lord."

Kaida stared at the once living corpse of the Urgal and swallowed her nausea. So much death… but she couldn't show weakness. She would pay dearly for refusing to kill the Urgal. Next time she would have to kill. Because maybe if she started doing what her father said, he would love her. Maybe the hitting would stop.

She picked up Sirrush, holding the offending sword at her side, she waited for someone to speak or something to happen.

Her father was the first to speak, recovering from his anger. "I have not yet discovered her true name." He admitted. "She will be taught as soon as possible to protect her mind, I cannot have her being controlled by those Varden skum." He stood up. "I have a proposition for you all. As you know, we have been receiving comments about my lack of an heir to the throne. Although this is ridiculous, I have decided to make the people of the Empire feel more secure. Kaida will be that security. Hear me though, I will never die, so she will never be queen of these lands. She is simply a tool, to be shown off to the masses. Nothing more. So she can be not just a useless lump, my daughter will be trained to the limits so she can fight." He snarled at her. "There is nothing I hate more than a weakling." He turned to the foresworn each in turn. "Each of you will take a turn teaching her something. I don't care what, but I want her to be able to put up a convincing fight." His eyes flashed as if his words contained hidden meaning, and the group of individuals around the table took glances to each other.

Kaida stood awkwardly as all of their eyes settled on her once again. She could feel them judging her. She trembled, Sirrush hanging useless at her side.

"Now, I'm done with you." Galbatorix waved his hand, he pointed to the disgruntled maid who had pulled the young boy away from Selena. "You there, maid! Take those two children and get the hell out. Take Kaida back to her chambers, I'll deal with her later."

Kaida gulped at the sinister look in his eyes. He was coming up later to hurt her. She knew it… and she didn't like it at all. She followed the maid and little boy from the large audience chamber, hearing them talking about exploring the Haradac to get it under the Empire's control. The words were cut off as the door slammed shut behind them.

It was silent between the three, the little boy looked over to Kaida, and was first to break the long silence. "Hi." He managed. "I'm Murtagh." He looked shyly down at his feet as he walked.

"Kaida." Kaida replied, still trembling, she realized she was holding Sirrush still and carried the black sword in two hands now.

Another awkward silence stretched between them. "Is King Galbatorix really-"

"Yeah." Kaida said. "He's my dad."

Murtagh gave a little bow. "That makes you a princess then. Princess Kaida." He said with a small smile.

Kaida did not respond, only looking over at him with a sort of blank expression. She wasn't in the mood to be joking and fooling around with a random kid she had just met. Besides, she didn't trust this kid farther than she could throw him. Last time she had trusted…. She shut her memories away, not wanting to relive the carnage. They had betrayed her, and this boy was just looking to betray her too.

They continued onwards in silence again, the maid stopped at the foot of the steps leading up to Kaida's tower. Kaida stared down at Sirrush, which sat in her hands, and started up the stairs.

"Let fire burn and passion rise….. as we fly through darkened skies…We are warriors of forever." Kaida whispered melodically as she climbed the steps to the inevitable beating that awaited her. "Flash of fangs and unfurled wings. Fighting for the most important things… Every day is a curse for a dragon." She felt oddly connected to the song, and paused at the door, looking up and out the window at the setting sun, which gleamed a golden red, she finished. " Flame of power flame of might. Help me to escape at night. Hiding forever in the land of Dragons." She opened the door to her room, only to see her room empty. She heaved a sigh of relief, and sat down on her bed, preparing herself for the beating she knew would come. She set Sirrush down on her dresser with a cold glance outside again, her heart yearning for something.

A few hours later, Galbatorix entered her room, a glare on his face. He threw her with magic so she hit the wall across the room, and Kaida's back spasmed, she felt the scar on her shoulder in the shape of the Ra'zac's mark burning with rememberance, as if it knew it was him who had caused it to form. "This is for disrespecting me in front of the Foresworn, Kaida. It could have all been avoided if you had just killed that stupid Urgal like I told you to." His fists rained down upon her and she could do nothing but attempt to protect herself as he beat her. Soon he returned with a whip, and whipped her until she was just moments from blacking out. Shock filled Kaida's mind as he stepped back, his punishments usually lasted longer and she usually ended up passing out three or four times. She struggled to get to her feet, tasting blood, she could barely stand. But she was still standing, a fact she was very happy about.

"I went easy on you Kaida, I need you in top shape tomorrow." He snarled. "I will take you out, the Empire will see you. You will act like a princess, and look like a princess. That is the only reason I have not given you a harsher punishment. Perform well and you will be praised. Perform poorly and your punishment will be carried out by Durza.

While her father's beatings usually consisted of her not being able to move, Durza's were twice as sinister. He would torture her in the most painful way possible, tying her up and digging through her mind, he would make her re-live the most painful moments of her life until she was no longer bothered by the sights. Durza's punishments were usually more mentally taxing than physical. He had left her tied up underneath a faucet where dripping water constantly landed on her forehead. She had been left alone for hours, and the dripping water had nearly driven her insane. To her, her mind was the most important part of her body. Her mind was her sanctuary. She didn't want to lose it in a torture session with Durza. She bowed to her father. "I am sorry my father. I will never disobey an order again. I will make you proud."

Galbatorix looked down at her and nodded. "I will hold you to your word. Durza will be here soon to teach you to protect your mind. We cannot have you being controlled by the Varden." He looked to her desk, only to see the black sword, Sirrush. "From now on, Sirrush is your blade, Kaida." He stated, picking the blade up and handing it to her. "You will learn to fight with it."

Kaida stared at the blade in her arms, and sat down on her bed, Galbatorix left the room without a single backwards glance. Kaida placed the sword gently on her bed, staring at it intensely.

Durza entered the room not long after Galbatorix, and instantly Kaida felt a stabbing sensation in her mind, her eyes rolled up to the top of her head and she cried out in pain, falling from the bed and to the floor, convulsing.

"Get up." Durza snarled, jerking her roughly to her feet. "Now, you need to fortify your mind, I want you to focus your thoughts on that wall over there, think about it as hard as you can."

Kaida focused on the wall, and pictured it in her mind, she waited, and soon enough, she felt the jabbing sensation of Durza's mind entering hers. Again she fell to the floor, the wall vanished from her mind and she cried out in agony. She felt an odd buzzing in her mind, and she felt a strange power gathering within her. Unlike anything she had ever felt in her life, the power wished, willed its self to be free. She tried to hold it back for a moment, but the pure wild nature of the power coursed through her body, and she felt her mind slip from her body. She looked down at her own body, which was still screaming in pain. Odd, because she felt nothing in this state. She reached herself out to Durza's mind to try and end the suffering of her body, and to her surprise, she slid right into his mind. Her mind sent in a snaking, long connector, it jabbed into Durza's mind and took a hold of a memory, slashing through it like a wild animal. With a jolt she returned to her body, only to discover her mind was unoccupied. She could feel things around her, the dark and sinister Durza, even though his mind was now shielded from her, she could feel his presence. This odd feeling of life filled Kaida with shock. Her mind could feel mice behind the wall, ants crawling up the side of the castle, servants below them, horses in the stables. She could feel exactly where they were. It didn't make any sense to her.

"What did you do?" Durza asked, his eyes narrowed.

"I.. I don't know." Kaida replied with confusion in her gaze. "I can feel you."

"You what?"

"I can feel you here.. with my mind.. like if I closed my eyes, I'd still know where you were." Kiada repeated.

Durza stared at Kaida. This was something strange, the young girl who was standing before him had broken through his defenses and pierced a memory. It was one of him before he had become a shade. "Your father will learn of this. Maybe… just maybe your strange power can be of use." He stalked away, Kaida stared as she could feel him storming down the stairs, until he left the range of her new radar.

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><p>Please please please review. Its kind of lonely not knowing if anyone is reading this.<p> 


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